Can't Lose Weight? Low Body Temperature, T3 and Dieting

Weight is the symptom people are most reluctant to bring to a doctor and the one Dr. Wilson is most careful about promising anything on. He has written about it several times: why he thinks dieting can lower the very hormone that drives metabolism, what he asks people to measure, and — unusually — which symptom he finds least predictable to treat. This guide gathers all of it.

The stall, as he explains it

Losing those first few pounds might not be so hard, but too many people quickly find that their weight loss slows or stops, even as they continue to do the very things that helped them lose initially. What’s going on? Chances are their metabolism has slowed down.

Dieting is one of the big reasons people’s metabolisms slows. Extreme dieting is well-known for this, but recent research also shows that even modest weight loss (5-10 % of body weight over the course of a year) can slow metabolism. That makes it harder to continue to lose weight, and sets you up to regain lost weight.

— Doing Everything Right and Still Not Losing weight? Check your Body Temperature

The study he points to

The study, by researchers at the National Institutes of Health, found that overweight people who lost 5 – 10 % of their body weight over the course of a year had a corresponding decrease in serum T3 levels. T3 is the body’s “active” form of thyroid hormone and it is what drives metabolism. T4 needs to be converted to T3 to become active.

Notably, in this study, there was no significant change in Thyroid Stimulating Hormone (TSH) or free T4. That means that this drop in hormone activity would not be apparent in standard thyroid hormone blood tests.

— Even Modest Weight Loss Can Lower T4 to T3 Conversion and Make It Harder to Lose More Weight

The same finding, from a different angle, in the article comparing diet with exercise:

Other research, though, shows that exercising to lose weight has no negative impact on T3 or metabolism. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis, studied a group of 50-to-60 year old sedentary men and women for a year. Half the group used calorie restriction to lose weight and fat; the other half used exercise. Body weight, body composition, and thyroid hormones all measured. Fat mass was reduced by 5-6 % in both groups. And T3 concentrations went down in the calorie-restricted group but not in the exercise group.

— Exercise vs. Calorie-Cutting to Lose Weight: Is T3 the Missing Link to Success?

What he asks you to measure

One good way to tell if your metabolism has slowed down is to check your body temperature. (For detailed instructions for how to take body temperature correctly, see “How are body temperatures measured?” on my website.) If it is consistently low– below 98.5 F., or 36.94 C, but typically lower than 97.8 F, or 36.56 C.–you can be pretty sure your metabolism has slowed down. That slows everything down in your body, including energy production and your ability to burn calories. Dieting becomes an uphill battle.

— Doing Everything Right and Still Not Losing weight? Check your Body Temperature

The method is on How to Take Your Temperature for a Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome Log.

The book’s version of the same argument

The symptom page from his book puts the frustration of the “normal tests” patient plainly:

It is well known that decreased thyroid system function can lead to inappropriate weight gain. With decreased levels of active thyroid hormone at the site of the cells, the resulting decrease in the body’s metabolism can lead to an increase in one’s weight, even if there is no change in a person’s diet, exercise, or life style patterns.

Of course, not everyone who feels that they are gaining too much weight in relation to their diet and exercise level is suffering from DTSF. But DTSF is more than enough to explain why someone may have difficulty with their weight.

— Weight Gain, Inappropriate, the book

(“DTSF” is his abbreviation for decreased thyroid system function.)

What he says about treatment — and the caveat he insists on

His claim, from the weight articles:

You may help restore normal metabolism by taking supplemental T3, the active form of thyroid hormone and a prescription drug. Your body temperature may return to normal and you may find yourself once more able to lose weight. You may have more energy–even enough left over to exercise. I’ve found that many people are successful with weight loss once their body temperature is corrected.

— Doing Everything Right and Still Not Losing weight? Check your Body Temperature

But the doctor’s manual is candid that weight is the exception among his symptoms:

On the other hand, other symptoms are less predictably responsive. For example, it’s harder to predict who might enjoy relief from the disturbing complaint of easy weight gain, and who will not. For instance, in some cases patients may experience an appreciable weight gain together with the onset of many other symptoms of Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome, after a major stress. And with treatment all of those symptoms may resolve, while the weight remains.

— Caveats for T3 Therapy, the doctor’s manual

Read those two passages together. He believes correcting the temperature often helps; he also tells doctors it is the symptom he can least promise on. Anyone selling certainty here is not quoting him.

The five-minute version he developed later

Because the weight often stayed after the temperature normalised, he went looking for something else and arrived at shivering:

Fastercise involves using the same efficient exercises that your body uses automatically. When your body gets cold enough, it shivers to stay warm. Shivering is the body’s fastest way to burn calories. In fact, shivering uses 120 times more energy than your body uses at rest. Shivering creates a sudden energy demand in the body that releases a tremendous amount of energy from your fat. That’s why after 1 minute of shivering, your hunger goes away within seconds and remains at bay for up to two hours (120 minutes). But you don’t have to be cold to shiver. You can shiver voluntarily without being cold and get the same benefits.

One minute of shivering (Fastercise) can raise your body temperature by one degree Fahrenheit.

— Treating Wilson’s Temperature Syndrome

Those are his claims for his own programme, and he is the interested party; the treatment page links the book and the app.

Where to go from here

• Weight and metabolism — every article on the site about weight, in one hub.
• Weight Gain, Inappropriate — the full symptom page from the book.
• Before T3: What Dr. Wilson Suggests Trying First — lifestyle, food and rest, in his words.
• Find a practitioner if your temperature runs low and you want the conversation.

This is a reader’s guide compiled from Dr. Wilson’s published writing; every quotation is his and links to its source. It is not medical advice, and T3 is a prescription medicine.